Social Media Week ...a week-long event happening in Chicago
(as well as other major cities around the world like Berlin, Los Angeles, Rome,
Mumbai, London – to name a few) is more than just discussing how to Facebook,
Instagram, Twitter, Snapchat etc, blogspot readers. It’s about utilizing those
same web tools to start and/or increase your business growth to finding new
ways of attracting traffic to your site or learning how today’s ever-changing
technology effects the way you live, work and play from food choices to
nightlife entertainment. Whether you like it or not, technology will always be
a part of our lives especially when corporations like Apple, Microsoft and others keep creating new or improving
existing products. 
Throughout the week, Social Media Week will feature a series
of educational and networking events that open to the public around various
places in the city. Through interconnected activities across the world,
blogspot readers, this event will also offer a global, community-sourced conversation
focusing on the theme – “The Future of Now: Making Sense of Our Always On,
Always Connected World”. Last year, Social Media Week Chicago featured over 300
speakers at 180 events in 8 venues which attracted more than 4,700 attendees
including SouthSide. Some of the events happening this year will feature
sessions like The Social Media Marketing Baseline, A Network For Every Interest
and There’s No Such Thing As A No-Brainer: Why Behavioral Economics Matter In
Social Media. This reviewer on the other hand will be attending session geared
more towards her interests like Utilizing Social Media and Celebrity
Partnerships or how social media effects nightlife and entertainment.
SouthSide’s first day covering Social Media Week began with
a day session at Morningstar featuring Samantha Skey, Chief Revenue Officer of
SHEKNOWS.com about the “Digital Natives” – a phrase coined to describe this
generation’s of tweens and teens growing up in this digital age or mobility and
social media access in the session Do As I Say, Not As I Do: how the social media lessons we teach our children will shape the future audience engagement online. They are the age group advertisers target the most when
marketing new technology, blogspot readers. During this hour-long session,
SouthSide learned a lot about gap between parents and their kids when it comes
to technology according to Samantha, kids want us (i.e. parents) to understand
how technology works and how they use it. And the stats were astounding. For
example, 81% of kids between 12 – 17 are using social media compared to the 72%
of the internet population as a whole. Did you know that 59% of kids joined a
social network before reaching the age of 10? That’s compared to 52% of kids
between the ages of 11 and under who signed up for a Facebook account while
more than half are better using a smartphone, blogspot readers. On the
flipside, Samantha told the group that 40% of parents learn about how to use
technology from their kids and many believe that 83% of kids (10 – 17) use an
electronic device 3+ hours a day. SouthSide thinks it’s longer than that
judging by the weekend usage by her tween daughter who surfs the net more than
her even though 40% of parents believe it’s an hour or less. 
Yet there are a few benefits of kids using technology,
blogspot readers, according to 76% of Gen X Moms (in which SouthSide’s a part
of) while 17% (which includes 9% of “Stay At Home” Moms) worry about cyber
bullying and its negative effects on kids. Samantha briefly discussed via a
Powerpoint presentation the positive and negative social media has on kids. The
positive – it has an impact on self-esteem thus making 20% feel more confident,
28% more outgoing and 29% less shy; social media increases kids’ awareness of
the world around them and encourages them to action (for example, Teen’s
Fighting Hunder; and some, blogspot readers, see using social media as a
creative opportunity. Yet there is a drawback to using social media such as 46%
of kids don’t know how to live a real life and 26% have hijacked another’s
account before. She then explained why her company launched a tool called Hatch
because most kids don’t understand who owns the content they’ve created and/or
how long it lasts in cyberspace. Plus kids today need to know and understand
the risks by using technology, blogspot readers. It was interesting to know
that kids want boundaries when using social media but at the same time they’re
not impressed with their parents’ social media knowledge. This reviewer met one
such person who didn’t know anything about other sites beyond Facebook and
Twitter like Creepy Pasta and Quotev. Believe it or not, kids today have
already mastered the “like” cycle and know how to get more “like” on their page
as well as use the “like” system to their advantage. 
Kids also are into “identity production” – how they
represent themselves online which includes not wanting to feel “posting regret”
(posting a comment and/or status and then later regretting ever posting it on
social media sites). They’re more willing to address real, difficult topics and
social issues as well as they know peers equates to media influence. Tweens and
teens view YouTube and Instagram as a popular way for DIY (“do it yourself”)
campaign but were split on Snapchat – some loved it while other hate it
...basically they found that site boring. And forget about the selfie craze,
blogspot readers, they are SO over it only because adults keep making a big
deal about it. To close out this very informative session, Samantha briefly
went over the “what’s next” steps for Hatch like teaching kids how to make
content they could be proud of including with full knowledge of their rights
...parents learning from kids while gaining insight into their social web
...kids building campaigns to help express their causes as well as protecting
and policing their peers on the use of social tech (i.e. not using their
birthdate or the home address as a site password which will lead to identity
theft) ...working on a parent, kids and educator collaboration in which Hatch
is about to be launched in schools. For more information about Hatch and/or
SHEKNOWS.com, visit sheknows.com or email Samantha your questions at
samantha_skey@sheknows.com. 
After that informative Social Media Week session, it was time to relax and enjoy some foodie samples as well as meet other Social Media Week attendees, blogspot readers. SouthSide's next Social Media Week session was at River North's foodie spot - Yolk featuring #FoodieChats founder and & CEO, Steve Green at its 177th meeting. Here, attendees like SouthSide sampled wine tastings from Columbia Crest and Yolk's famous Tour de France French toast - a creative collaboration of different breads paired with fresh fruit. For example, tart blueberries were paired with the delicious Lemon poppyseed bread while tangy sweetness of orange bread had strawberries and yummy banana bread was paired with fresh bananas to heightened the banana taste. Each unique pairing, blogspot readers, truly wowed this reviewer's palette especially after sipping some of her orange mimosa did those flavors explode in her mouth. This second annual kick-off event also featured #FoodieChats sponsor Mahatma Rice USA along with some recipes prepared by chef Taki Kastanis with Jasmine and Basmati rice. To show off the dishes, Debbie Wheeler who runs the taste kitchen for Mahatma Rice USA had chef Kastanis prepare the rice pudding (using the Jasmine rice) and fried risotto balls (using the Basmati rice), blogspot readers. After sampling both, SouthSide's is going to try making the rice pudding recipe but with a spin of her own for the upcoming holidays. 
Then it was off to Billy Dec's Rockit Bar & Grill for the Opening Night party which always draws a crowd of Social Media Week attendees to this popular River North location. Besides it being a Social Media Week event, it was also Monday Night Football with all the wide screens showing Bears-Jets pre-game activities. There was chocolate sampling as well as Goose Island tastings. It was a fun, relaxing atmosphere while attendees socialized, tweeted and et al throughout the night, blogspot readers.
Until next time, support your local scene,
SouthSide
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